Associate Professor Linda Newman

A Better Start in Life

Associate Professor Linda Newman's far-reaching research in early childhood education is
expanding the Faculty of Education and Arts' international footprint.

Associate Professor Linda Newman forged an interest in social justice while working as a childcare centre director in the 1970s, when she realised that children with special needs were not well catered for in mainstream early childhood education.

Her development of outreach programs to bridge that gap eventually led to a
new career as a teaching and research academic and, several decades on, those
principles remain a driving force in her work.

Newman juggles administrative and teaching tasks in the Early Childhood
program in the Faculty of Education and Arts with a substantial research agenda
that takes her to places as diverse as Chile and South Africa - and often to the
poorest parts.

"My research interests have always been closely aligned to my work with
children, families and teachers, and more recently curriculum and pedagogy,"
says Newman, whose doctoral studies into professional ethics led to the
development of the widely used Ethical Response Cycle [available in Newman &
Pollnitz (2005). Working with Children and Families: Professional, Legal and
Ethical Issues].

Newman and Professor
James Albright are part of a team working with three South African universities
- Fort Hare, Western Cape and North-West - to build capacity among academics for
developing teacher education programs for the kindergarten-equivalent Grade R
(or reception year). Enrolments in Grade R, a non-compulsory pre-primary year
for five-year-olds, have increased considerably in that country as part of a
national education improvement plan.

"To date their teacher education has been geared towards children starting
school later so there is a shortage of teachers trained in early childhood and a
great need to build that teaching capacity," Newman says. "The Early Childhood
team at Newcastle is working with partner universities and will also do some
research around the introduction of early childhood education in South African
schools."

Three South African students are undertaking postgraduate study in Newcastle
as part of the collaboration and the next phase will be to investigate research
partnerships.

Newman is also an investigator on an overseas project called Futuro
Infantil Hoy (loosely translated as Children's Futures Today), which is
focused on building engagement between communities and early childhood centres
in very poor neighbourhoods in the port city of Antofagasta, in northern
Chile.

"Despite the extreme poverty, they do have early childhood centres and
university-qualified staff, but there had been no tradition there of encouraging
families to be involved in their children's education and support their learning
at home," Newman says.

Newman and colleagues from the University of Western Sydney, her former
employer, have worked alongside the centres introducing teaching methods and
initiatives that promote family involvement, such as inviting parents to
workshops and documenting children's work with digital photography. These
measures have led to increased confidence in the work of the centres and better
learning outcomes.

"It has helped raise expectations: parents are now saying to us, 'I can see a
future for my child,' " Newman says.

The project has fostered international collaboration, with a study team from
Chile having visited Newcastle last year, and Newman says the research has wide
application beyond the community in which they are working.

"Everything we are developing and doing there we bring back into our own
teaching," she says. "It is a two-way knowledge flow, and there is always scope
here for improving interaction between families and early childhood
centres."

Career Summary

Biography

In my position as Associate Professor at The University of Newcastle, I enjoy both my teaching and research work. There is an alignment between my teaching of Early Childhood Internship, early childhood teacher research, and contemporary literacies and my research. I am a member of the "Comparative and International Education Group University of Newcastle" (CIEGUN) through my research and teaching in Chile and South Africa. I am currently working with a research team from the University of Western Sydney in "Programa Futuro Infantil Hoy" (Children's Futures Today Project), a community capacity building and teacher change project. This project is situated in conditions of extreme poverty in Northern Chile. I also work in a developing research and teaching project in partnership with the University of Fort Hare in South Africa. We are privileged through this project, currently funded by the Ford Foundation, to have 3 South African lectures studying with us in our Masters of Early Childhood Education. I recently worked with a group of early childhood teachers in Newcastle, using one component of the Futuro Infantil Hoy curriculum - a literacy environment rating scale, with the purpose of achieving teacher change in three early childhood centres.My methodological interests include Practitioner Action Research, sociocultural methodology, ethical methodology, and visual methodologies. Each of these has been drawn on in recent research. The postgraduate students I help to supervise are working in areas of early childhood literacies, creativity and ICT; music across the grades; and professional learning. I have worked in the early childhood education profession for over 30 years. I have taught in and managed a range of early childhood settings including preschool, long day care, school, early childhood intervention, and playgym. I entered vocational and further education as a TAFE teacher and later commenced lecturing in an early childhood degree at the University of Western Sydney. I joined The University of Newcastle in 2009. My research interests have always closely aligned to my work with children, families and teachers. My Masters research was related to transition to school and curriculum continuity for children with disabilities and additional needs, and their families. My doctoral research led on from this work and was related to professional ethics, and particularly the resolution of ethical dilemmas. This work resulted in co-authorship of the "Ethical Response Cycle", a now widely used ethical thinking facilitation model. In recent years, and ongoing from previous research, I have become interested in teacher change and practitioner action research.

Research ExpertiseLinda Newman is well recognised in national and international early childhood communities for her work in professional ethics and the development of professional learning communities, tied to her co-authored volume (with Lois Pollnitz), "Working with Children and Families: Professional, Legal and Ethical Issues". Current research is focusing on community capacity building through teacher pedagogical leadership, early literacy, and visual methodology. This research is centred in Northern Chile in the "Futuro Infantil Hoy" project. Linda works in partnership with the University of Western Sydney on this project.

Teaching ExpertiseLinda's current teaching is in Early Childhood Internship at undergraduate level. At postgraduate level Linda teaches two courses in the Master of Early Childhood Education - "Conducting teacher Research in Early Childhood Education" and "Early Childhood Literacies". She also co-supervises several doctoral candidates.

Administrative ExpertiseLinda Newman has held many administrative roles over her career. Currently she is the Chair - Early Childhood Program Management Committee and the Convenor of the Master of Early Childhood Education at the University of Newcastle.

CollaborationsCurrent Collaborations: University of Western Sydney and Minera Escondida Foundation: "Programa Futuro Infantil Hoy" - Chile University of Fort Hare and Ford Foundation - Capacity building with early childhood education academics.

Chapter (3 outputs)

Year

Citation

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Link

2014

Woodrow C, Arthur L, Newman L, 'Futuro Infantil Hoy and community capacity building: An international early childhood literacy project', Diverse Literacies in Early Childhood: A social justice approach, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne 86-105 (2014) [B1]

2005

Newman L, 'Ethical issues: Dealing with the hard stuff', Does this child need help? Identification and early childhood intervention, Early Childhood Intervention Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (2005) [B1]

2000

Newman L, 'Implementing the Australian Early Childhood Association Code of Ethics: a constitutional strategy', Early Childhood Landscapes: Cross National Perspectives on Empowerment and Restraint, Peter Lang, New York City, New York, United States 280-287 (2000) [B1]

Newman L, Pollnitz LJ, 'Researcher reflections on the ethical dilemmas of ethics research: The making of a video about early childhood fieldwork dilemmas', Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 7 (1) 31-39 (2000) [C1]

Conference (1 outputs)

Year

Citation

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Link

2012

Newman LR, 'Removing the invisibility cloak: Early Childhood Development and the Millennium Development Goals', Trans-Disciplinary Conference on Early Childhood Development and Education. Programme, Cape Town, South Africa (2012) [E3]

Research Supervision

Current Supervision

The Role of Home Environment and Kindergarten Environment in Assisting Saudi Children Emergent LiteracyCurriculum & Education Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2013

Examining the Power Effects that Influence EducatorÂ¿s Decision Making when Planning with the Early Years Learning FrameworkCurriculum & Education Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2013

The Impact of Preschool Educational Programs on Children's Creative Thinking: A Cross-Cultural Study of Educational Programs and Children's Creative Thinking in Iran and AustraliaCurriculum & Education Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2004

Principals' Leadership in ICTEducation, University of Western SydneyCo-Supervisor

Past Supervision

Year

Research Title / Program / Supervisor Type

2015

Intentional Teaching Practices of Educators and the Development of Creative Thought Processes of Young Children Within Australian Early Childhood CentresCurriculum & Education Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2014

Young Children's Use of ICT: Preschool Teachers' Perceptions and Pedagogical Practices in ShanghaiCurriculum & Education Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor